Tag Archive | Prophecy

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 228

Aug15

Day 228—We are in the eighth month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and prophecy from Jeremiah.

    Day 228 – Jeremiah 32 – 34 (Jeremiah buys land, God’s assurance, future promises, everlasting covenant with David, Zedekiah’s heart & actions)

Jeremiah 32.  During the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the LORD told Jeremiah to buy a field in Benjamin.  (Say what?  Right when we are being attacked & carried away??)  But Jeremiah obeyed the voice of the LORD, bought the field, paid for it, signed the deed, and preserved the legal papers.

Then Jeremiah went to the LORD, saying he knew God was powerful, that nothing was too hard for Him, that He had done great and marvelous deeds for Israel, and that He had now brought disaster on His disobedient people and given Jerusalem into the hands of the Chaldeans.  Jeremiah said he KNEW that what God says, comes to pass, but… um… You said to buy a field, though this land is in the hands of the Chaldeans….  (Basically, he is asking God ‘why?”)

And the LORD answered him, “Behold I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? (repeats Jeremiah’s words).  Yes, I’m giving the city into the hands of the Chaldeans.  Yes, it’s because my people have done so wickedly such abominations.

BUT!!!  “I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I WILL BRING THEM BACK TO THIS PLACE to dwell in safely. They shall be my people and I will be their God.”   “Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.”   “Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah.”

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Jeremiah 33.  Then the LORD promises even greater and FUTURE blessings for his people.  “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

God promises to bring Jerusalem to health and healing, to prosperity and security. He will restore their fortunes and rebuild them. He will cleanse them of all sin and will forgive them of rebellion.  Jerusalem will become “a name of joy, praise, and glory” to God and before all the nations. 

And, fantastically…. “the days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. …I will cause a “righteous Branch” to spring up for David, and HE shall execute justice and righteousness.”   “And this is the name by which Jerusalem will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

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Jeremiah 34.  Then comes a chapter about Zedekiah, the final king to rule Judah.  Jeremiah was to tell the king, “I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. You shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall go to Babylon.”

For reasons we don’t know but might surmise, King Zedekiah makes a proclamation of covenant with all the people of Jerusalem to set at liberty all their Hebrew male and female slaves. (God’s law was that a Hebrew could only be an indentured servant for 7 years, and at the 7th year, would be freed. But the greedy for wealth and power people had not done that and had kept them in slavery.)

And they obeyed and set them free!  (WOW!!)

BUT…afterward, they turned around and took back the male and female slaves that they had set free and put them into subjection as slaves. (WHAT??)

Then God told them through Jeremiah, “You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes….” “But then you turned around and profaned my name when you took back the male and female slaves.” “Therefore…..I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine.”

“I will give you into the hand of your enemies and to the hand of those who seek your lives.” “…into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you. Behold, I will command and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire.”

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 207

Jul25

    Day 207—We are in the SEVENTH month of Bible reading. We’re continuing in Isaiah.

    Day 207 – Isaiah 40 – 43. (The majesty, greatness, & glory of God vs idols, Israel, His choice and love)

This is a glorious section of Isaiah to read. It will swell your heart and make you love Him more.

Chapter 40 begins a new section of Isaiah’s prophecies. The first 39 chapters spoke of Judah during Isaiah’s own time about the coming of exile in Babylon.

The following 26 chapters seem to tell a time during the captivity and beyond, even as to the Messiah’s reign.

This chapter (40) seems to tell of a time when Israel will return to their land. It is also a familiar passage quoted in the gospels about John the Baptist’s ministry of preparing the way for Jesus and His kingdom.  God’s word “stands forever.”

To Judah, Isaiah cries, “Behold your God” – a mighty ruler, a tender shepherd, the great Creator, the wise Judge.

“Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is HE who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.”

“All the nations are as nothing before Him; they are accounted by Him as LESS than nothing and emptiness.”

But to Israel… “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength.”

“but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Chapter 41.  “Listen to me in silence, O coastlands…” The coastlands around the Mediterranean Sea and the islands represent the nations.  “One from the East” speaks of the Persian king, Cyrus, who defeats Babylon and releases some of the Israelite captives to return.

God confirms his choice and calling of, and love for Israel. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  And God promises them, “Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish.”

Oh, what promises!!

Isaiah’s prophecy then addresses the glorious abundance that will return to the LAND of Israel – rivers, fountains, and pools in the wilderness, springs of water, trees of all kinds growing.

Then Isaiah sets forth the case that the LORD has against futile idols that man makes and expects to help them…. instead of HIM, God, the almighty creator of everything. “Behold they are all a delusion; their works are nothing; their metal images are empty wind.”

Chapter 42 begins to tell of God’s chosen “Servant” in whom He delights (the Messiah).

“I have put my Spirit upon him… He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice… a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench.  He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth, and the coastlands (nations) wait for His law.

And the great promises —

“I, I am the LORD, and besides me, there is no savior.”

“I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

These remind me of the similar promises of Psalm 103:8-12.

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 195

Jul13

    Day 195—We’ve been reading for over half the year. Praise God! Today, we’re read in another of the “minor prophets.”

    Day 195 – Micah 1 – 7. (Prophesies mainly to the southern kingdom of Judah about social injustices and religious corruption, 3 cycles of doom then hope)

Micah is from a town south of Jerusalem and speaks mainly to Judah, although he alludes to Samaria’s fall to the Assyrians in 1:6-11.

“Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it because it is in the power of their hand.  They covet….  They oppress….. They lie….  They don’t know justice… They hate good and love evil…. They take bribes for religious favors….   And so, it will be night to them, without vision or prophet, and Zion will be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins.” (Chapters 1-3.)

But, in the latter days (Chapter 4), others will come to the house of God in Zion and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go for the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”  And the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion… forevermore.

Chapter 5 gives the promise of the future Ruler and Shepherd of Judah. “But you, O Bethlehem…. from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days..”   “And He shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure… And He shall be their peace.”

Chapter 6 returns to the Indictment of the LORD against his people. “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!”

When asked if God’s people should come to Him, bowing, with burnt offerings of calves, with 10K rams, or rivers of oil, or bring their firstborn to be sacrificed for their transgressions?????? 

“He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the LORD require of you

but to do justice, and to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with your God?

But…. (God says) Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked?  Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. 

Chapter 7. “The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, each hunts the other with a net.”    “The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.”

BUT… “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance. He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy.”

Micah’s message. Doom and retribution.  Hope and the promise of restoration.